by Amanda Pearsall

Created on: October 02, 2009

Cats and Dogs

The other evening, while sitting in the cockpit of our boat, enjoying the view and the wine, a beautiful old sloop glided up alongside the transient dock and came to rest for an overnight stay. Among the many pleasures that come with living on a boat I must admit to a certain guilty voyeurism when it comes to my fellow cruisers. My husband says I'm spying, I call it noticing. I noticed that so and so did this and that today, etc. There is a wealth of entertainment to be had by simply observing the daily activity in a marina. Is it wrong to take a healthy interest in your neighbors? No, I don't think so. Where would we be as a species if we weren't concerned about each other, am I right? Of course I am. (And, helpful hint: a good set of binoculars can be extremely helpful for noticing things more accurately!) Kidding!

In any event, getting back to this particular sloop and its crew and why they held such fascination for me (besides the obvious fact that they were new to the dock). After tying up the lines and securing the boat, the occupants of said sloop began to disembark. I noticed that they were three middle aged guys each carrying a sack of laundry. Boring. But wait, up popped a rather large fluffy orange and white cat from the companionway. Up went my antennae. Being the animal lover that I am, and being separated from my animals as I am at this moment in time, I have what probably could be described as an obsessive interest in animals of any kind. Can't help it. I grew up on a farm and had animals of every sort, both domestic and wild. I've never NOT had a dog, and usually at least one cat as well.

We moved aboard our boat while still being the parents of a very large and elderly chocolate lab and our also somewhat elderly black and white cat. The dog is arthritic and can barely make it up a flight of steps, much less maneuver around on a sailboat. The cat could have moved with us, but she is so attached to the arthritic dog that she would have been miserable without him. (This cat really believes that she IS a dog and would have a non-platonic relationship with him if she could, if you get my drift) So, they now reside in a house on dry land with my mother in law, who graciously volunteered to foster parent for us until the inevitable death occurs. (The dog, not you, Mom!) We visit often and they still remember and love us, but it's not the same. We miss them terribly, but circumstances being what they are, it can't be helped.

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